How Does Your Garden Grow?
—Gina Moore

No, I’m not talking about the nursery rhyme about a contrary girl named Mary. Nor am I referring to a Better Than Ezra album from the late '90s. The following is a reprint of an article from Crosswalk’s tour report of 2006, which speaks to a very simple agricultural concept that Jesus himself used to teach evangelism: to expect a harvest, we must plant the seeds.

July 31, 2006: It looked like an ordinary letter stuck under a few others from kids we had met on the tour. After the initial thrill wears off, it’s easy to become jaded and forget that each envelope represents a kid reaching out, crying for help in many cases, just wanting to be heard. But this one was different. This one could literally be a matter of life and death both physically and spiritually. It was from Sean, soon to be 21 years old and locked up in Chino, California, a place where we have never played. Sean was in one of the California facilities where we did play in July, 2005, when he heard Crosswalk’s “Out of Control” concert, but he has never written us until now. He begins the letter by telling us how much he enjoyed the concert, but it isn’t long before he is sharing his story of how drugs and gangs have ruined his life. The rest of the letter speaks for itself:

Why did Sean wait a full year to write to us? Is it possible that the seeds we planted 12 months ago finally started to break through the tough soil of Sean’s heart? How and why did this young man keep up with the “Get Out of Jail Free” card for that long even through a move to a different facility? That card was his only connection to Crosswalk after he was moved since we had never played at his new facility and that chaplain did not know us. What a thought! God can use such a little thing—a simple piece of orange paper—to ignite a spark of hope for this kid who knew there was a world outside waiting to devour him if he didn’t prepare himself. Several of us wrote Sean in an urgent attempt to equip and encourage him before his release. The last we heard from him was the week before his birthday on August 29. He was encouraged and told us that he had friends and family who were there to support him. My finite mind says, “That was not enough time!” But God says, “My word…will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).

How does God’s garden grow? Just like any other garden, you first have to plant the seeds. Thank you for your partnership which allows us to continue to plant seeds of faith, hope, and love in the hearts and minds of juvenile offenders all over this country.

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